 Welcome to, I was going to say Make Him Smile. Welcome to Seymour's World on Think Tech Hawaii. As you can hear in the background, we have a very, very special show. Everybody asks me, especially when I'm traveling in Europe and in Asia, what is Hawaiian music all about? What is Hawaiian music? So I decided to try to ask my friends from our Make Him Smile program, which plays music at our hospitals here in Hawaii, to come and join us and talk to us a little bit about Hawaiian music. And these three guys who are, you are going to meet, John, John and Manny, are guys who have been friends for 40 years and have been playing forever in backyards, for weddings and all sorts of events. So I would like to introduce you to John Pourless, Manny, and John. Welcome and thank you so much for coming to Make Him Smile, I appreciate it. I can't stop saying Make Him Smile because I'm so used to seeing you guys in our program. Let me ask John a few questions first. You can cut out. Thank you. Okay. Wow. So John, you've been playing for Make Him Smile for a couple of years now, and I have to say that as one of our premier artists, because you play whenever I ask, and there are times when you even call me and say, hey, Seymour, you got any open dates I'd like you to play. Tell me what makes you want to do that so much? Just the returning of a gift of giving back to community and try to share among my friends and great friends like these guys, put our talents together and try to give back. It's just a part of just giving back, sharing music throughout Hawaii all these years that we get to play. Now we can also give back. And I think the idea of defining Hawaiian music, it's not just the music, that giving back is a true peace. It's a gratitude that you are giving back to the people who have helped you to where you are today. All these years, yeah. So whatever experience that I've got all these years, I just learned all these years to play with the right people, right surroundings, and just a great feeling of sharing with Hawaiian music and the culture, and just about giving back everything that you, it's like gratitude. You appreciate all those years of playing music. So for me, it's something real dynamic in my life as of now, it's so awesome now. Wonderful. Now Manny, you have been, you're such a great guitar player and I've heard you play many, many times at our Make Him Smile events. And I'm very impressed that you take the time out from your work, from your retirement, and from to come to our Make Him Smile programs. What do you see out of it? Oh, I like to see the people to feel the love and the aloha and appreciation because my mom always told me, whatever, you got the gift and special stuff that you don't surely give to, the Lord can take it away. So I try to give all my phenomenal music with, especially John, Kipala and John over here. We make your Hawaiian music and also everybody's smile, like how you said, Make Him Smile. Make Him Smile. That's wonderful. Now John, I have a very fond feeling for you because we share something in common. I could never play that instrument, which we're gonna talk about in a minute, but you and I both had two knee replacements, I know that. And you said that music has been a part of helping you overcome your knee replacements and your health. Tell us a little bit about that. Well, I used to take blood pressure pills and all that and I started, after I retired from medicine, I started playing music and when I started playing music, I'd go to a doctor and check, they said, yeah, you don't need blood pressure pills. You need all these stuff. So I'm clean and I'm so happy just from music. And I love to play music, so when I retire, that's the thing I wanted to do. And with this instrument, I've been playing for 40 years. I used to do the washed up. Oh, the old washed up, yeah. Yeah, we used to play on the ship too. We had a band on the ship. Oh my. And when we come in from Hawaii about one day before we come into Hawaii, we have a cookout. And so I see guys in the room playing with the instruments. So when I came home, I got my instrument, I took them on the ship. And we had a cookout, I took them, I brought it out. They said, what is that? I said, it's a bass. And then they bought the instrument out. And we had the chief engineer, the captain, they had their own instrument. And they all came out to play. They bought the instrument out. And then the electricians used to have a computer. So he'd go on the computer and get all the music and we have the whole group out there singing and playing music. Well, we have to show people your instrument. What do you call it? Put it on the table. This is a, we call it, we call it Kakalina gas can. A Kakalina gas can. Yeah, because Kakalina in Hawaii is gas. Uh-huh. And it's the only bass I've ever seen in the world that looks like this. So how did you come up with this? How did you come up with making this into a bass? What happened was I do a lot of walking in Nanakulia. One day I was coming out. I seen two guys playing music at the beach and I heard the sound. So I went up there and I looked. I seen this old guy playing a gas can. So I got me on a gas can and I watched him what he did because I used to just pull back. And I said, man, he was running his fingers. I went home and tried it and it just happened. Wow. Because the sound of that bass, and you play every chord on that bass? Oh yeah. And then the funny thing, my friend made this for me because I played at his party. So he made this special for me. And he put a key here. Yes. And it's just a joke. And when the guys tell me, what key are you playing in? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which key? So I just turned the key. But it really hurt the key. We got it. We got it. Very cool. And a lot of people seen the instrument and they asked me if they can't get a gas can. It's hard to get now. I mean, military was going to have it anymore. They made the plastic now. They get plastic, yeah. But that's not going to do the job. Sounds more dead, like doom, doom. Wow. Get yourself set because we're going to play. John, tell us about this. Thank you. I'm used to bongos, big bongodrums. What is this? This is a duplicate of the big bongodrums, but a smaller version. But you get such great sound. I mean, I mean. Yeah, yeah. You can have different tones. It's the way that you tune the drums also. And you can have different techniques to muff it. But it's actually the real skin, cowhide. It's like the real duplicate of the big one. That's why it's a miniature, but it comes in handy. It's good for my recordings when I do studio sessions. And it's good for live gigs like this. It's not too loud, just kind of intimate. Everybody is telling me in my ear, will you please let them play? So I'm supposed to stop talking now. So you guys go ahead. Let's hear something. Go for it. What's the first song that you're doing? Manifest. For me. OK. What's the song? We're eating in the kitchen. Go for it. We have eight and a half million tourists who come to Hawaii every year. And we fight for our tourists. We fight with the Caribbean. We fight with Mexico. And everybody wants to know, and I'm on a committee that's looking at that, why are so many people coming here? And we talk about all the reasons that people come to Hawaii. The beaches, the sun, the sand, and so on. But I'll tell you one reason that. The food. And the food. I'll tell you one good reason. It's the music. I think when people come here and they go to a restaurant in the evening, or they sit, or they just take the moment and time to be able to listen, it feels wonderful. And that's part of the reason that we are so successful in Hawaii. So you guys, believe it or not, are one of the reasons that we can make Hawaii the tourist destination that it is. And we must continue. We must continue this Hawaiian music. We mustn't just gravitate towards bringing music in from the mainland and all the pop stars and all that kind of stuff. So I hope guys like you and your children and the generation after continue to do it. So very good work. Now I have a question. You're all wearing the same kind of shirt. Who's going to tell me what is this shirt? Go to. Palaka's shirt is really known from way, way back. And these people in Waihewa used to make it. A story in Waihewa used to make it. Now everybody are wearing Palaka's shirt because it shows the Hawaiian. And it's actually a Hawaiian print now, right? I mean, Palaka's shirt is famous. There were some entertainers that they... The sons of Hawaii. The sons of Hawaii. They always use the Palaka's shirt when they perform and when they play for parties. Right. When they play for people, especially occasion. Isn't that amazing? And here you guys are wearing it. And I think it's a part of the aura of what Hawaii is all about and the music, of course, what it's all about. They have all five different colors of shirts. They have the brown, primary, the black, the blue, the orange, and the orange. Very cool. I think I'm going to have to get one, guys, because even though you made me promise that I can't sing, and you made me sign, you made me sign all over. You could do anything with it. You can't sing, right? I know my voice is about... You can play piano, but... I can play piano, but I can't play piano. That's your singing right there. Oh, and music, they have piano in Hawaii. I know, I know. And I play sometimes at the rehab and at Schreiner's Hospital. You know, I'll play because there's piano there. We need you to sing one more song before we take a break. Could you do that? I can sing one. Please, go. Okay, cool. We can do... Honolimu. Honolimu, okay. Oh, I love that. You see. Honolimu, Mulan. Every, every wave will whisper. You are my... It's blinding, beloved. This is Steve Katz. I'm a marriage and family therapist, and I do shrink wrap, which is now going to every other week, all during the summer and maybe forever after. Take care of your mental health this summer. Have a good time. Do what's fun and take good care of yourself. Bye-bye. Hi, I'm Marianne Sasaki. We just completed another great episode of Life in the Law. And I'm here today with Jay Fidel. Hi, Jay. Hi, Marianne. And what do we love about the law, Jay? There's so much to love about it, right? There's more to love about it all the time. No kidding. We have to be a nation of laws. We have to be a nation of laws. We have to be a diligent nation of lawyers and citizens. It's all about the rule of law, Marianne. The rule of law is alive and well and life in the law. Yes, it certainly is. Tune in every Wednesday from one to one-third on Think Tech. Here we are, ladies and gentlemen, with some beautiful Hawaiian music. John Forlas, Manny, and John are serenading us. Just beautiful. Continue, guys. Honourly by moonlight the sea. I like to dance, and I happen to love to dance. That is just, it's so melodic. And so, I mean, we could just see somebody doing a hula, or just moving towards a beautiful song with guys. Absolutely gorgeous song. Where did you learn your music, John? Back in, actually, elementary school. Really? Now that you play, other than percussion, music, actually, in intermediate, I wanted to be a drummer. But they had so much competition going on, so I stuck it out playing trombone, actually. No kidding. Playing horn section. Then when I got to high school, I took choir singing. And I, yeah, then I continued my music from there. Then I took percussion, like a couple of years after that, studied percussion. So it's been, like, over 30 years already. But it's amazing, because you can come. I know you come to all the hospitals just with this. Oh, yeah. You don't have to come with much more. And your voice, obviously. Voices and some shakers and whatever instruments I can, you know. Beautiful. Manny, how about you? When did you start to hear music? Oh, when I was actually six years old playing the ukulele. Yeah, my brother was, my dad, he was so unique, my mom. I just started watching him. I just picked up the ukulele and I just started to play. And then when I went to school, I started to take a polygyn music when I was young. Then I picked it up and then I started growing friends and we all played together as we were growing up in school. Have you played professionally as well? Oh, no, we never do. You just love doing it. You just love doing it at your backyard. Play Slacky, whatever you can. I want to make music, make things happy. Oh, that's beautiful. Make people happy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the kids, hopefully my grandkids can pick up the music, you know, intellectually. Well, they have to want to, obviously. And once they want to, and they get to see the pleasure that it gives them, then hopefully they'll continue with it. That's great. How about you, John? My dad used to play music way, way back when I was in the fourth grade. And he used to go down to Monica Beach Hotel, where he used to be just that hotel, way back. You know what I mean? And he had a group and they started playing. But I never got into music until I moved to Honolulu and met these brothers here. And that's how I started playing with John and Manny. So I know this guy is 30 years. 30 years you've been playing together. That's amazing. Backyard kind parties. Just full around. So that's how I started playing music. Just beautiful music. I think it's, you know, the dedication that you have given, not just to my make-and-smile program, but the dedication you're giving to continue the Hawaiian music is magnificent. Just beautiful, beautiful. Can we have another song? I'll sing this song, te loha. Please. Ready? One, two, three. Hawaiian music as well, I'm assuming, right? But that's your favorite genre of music that you play. Just beautiful. So tell me what's happened to Hawaiian music. Has it changed much over 30 years that you guys have been together, besides having the iPad to see you. And everybody could die. Except me and you, right? Except me and you. The piano doesn't help with the iPad. All in my brain, my iPad. So what do you think the big difference is? I mean, Hawaiian music has become quite famous with Jake Shimabukuro and Israel, of course, with his songs and all that stuff. What do you see? Do you see a difference in Hawaiian music in the last 30 years? In the last 30 years. Oh, yeah. There's plenty of difference. Look at all the people playing ukulele now. Roy Sakuma was just awarded a special distinguished award because he taught so many people ukulele. I don't know if you know, but we brought some kids, 12 to 18 years old from Israel, of all places, playing ukulele. Oh, sure, they came here to play. The instrument has grown all worldwide. In my opinion, that is Hawaiian music. The culture transcends through the music, through the instrument to the people. I have a question because I played at Roy Sakuma's thing at the Kapilani Park. Sure. And they have all these booths on the side where builders build ukulele kamak. I played with this group that makes special kind of ukulele, custom kind, which started from 2000 and up. Oh, wow. And we played in there. And what happened, had these four Korean girls from Korea. Wow. They had the ukulele. They came, looked at the instrument. So I asked the translator, they came to play with us. And they came down and they played. And man, they sang Hawaiian songs, harmonized and everything. They did not something that's unreal. From Korea. Yeah, and all the people came and watched us play. I played with them and I asked her, can you play a Korean song? They played a Korean song. Oh, my God. It was so nice. But you see what you're saying, John, is where music really can be a bridge between all sorts of... Universal language. Yes, it's a universal language, a bridge between people who may be not too friendly with each other. That's right. Music is one of those beautiful, beautiful bridges. That's right. And I asked them, who talked to you guys, they have this kupono that goes up there and teaches them how to sing Hawaiian music. I mean, they sounded so nice. And harmonized and everything. Well, you know that the Tsukuma goes to Japan. Yeah. In many different places. It's really, Hawaiian music has come into its own in the last 20, 30 years, I think. And now, because of Jake Shimabukuro and some of the other guys that are out there, it's really become a mainstay. And it's a genre onto its own. Unfortunately, we're almost up here in Seymour's world. So I'm going to ask you to play one more song to take us out, if you don't mind. And I want to first thank you very much for coming today. Thank you for having us. You guys are terrific. To you people out there, I hope you've enjoyed Seymour's world. It has been a special event for me today because I feel these guys represent so much of what I love in life, which is music. So these guys are going to play one song for you to take us out. Go ahead, you guys. Great, Hawaiian song. Yeah, Hawaiian song. Sure. That's so nice. That's so good. That one's on the low. Yeah. Thank you very much.